About student exchange
Everything you need to know about student exchange:
Opportunity of a lifetime
It’s now or never!
Only at high school age is it possible to have the maturity, flexibility and adaptability to become part of another family and truly discover a foreign culture through living as a local.
It is the opportunity of a lifetime, and one with invaluable rewards – confidence, communication and negotiation skills, cultural adaptation and international understanding – from which you will benefit for years to come.
Living as a local
Exchange programs seek to engage your sense of adventure and determination to succeed – to live in another culture, to speak another language, to grasp foreign customs, to learn a different history and most of all, to understand its people.
In doing so, you will appreciate the world of difference between a temporary tourist and a temporary resident. An exchange program will grant your wish to explore this difference by living in a country and experiencing it as a local on a day-to-day basis – being a member of a typical host family and attending a local school with fellow students.
Your host family
The family home is the oldest classroom for cultural understanding and is at the centre of the exchange experience.
The unique opportunity to live as a family member in another country is only available to young participants on exchange programs. It is a rare chance to gain a second family and make lifelong friendships in another part of the world.
Volunteer host families may be the families of doctors, teachers, farmers, mechanics or park rangers. Their home may be a cottage or a castle, in a rural area, small town or a city suburb. The one thing all host families have in common is a willingness to voluntarily share their home, culture and language, and accept you as a member of the family.
Your host school
As part of your cultural immersion and ongoing education, you will attend a local high school with fellow teenagers in the host community.
Becoming an active member of your overseas school will give you a further opportunity to make international friends, discover customs and engage in a foreign culture.
You will have the chance to take advantage of the many different subjects, timetables and clubs, not to mention social and sporting activities with your new friends.
Learning a second language
Living in a foreign country is undoubtedly the best way to learn another language.
At first students can find it difficult to understand but gradually, with support and encouragement from the host family and new friends, the language, and the confidence to experiment with it, comes.
S.C.C.E. has few language prerequisites so the choice of destination need not be influenced by your language ability, but by your motivation to become an exchange student.
No matter the destination, the one memory foreign language exchange students always share in common – and one Australian students find it difficult to understand until it happens to them – is the first time they dreamed in their second language. Will this happen to you on your exchange?
How can I apply online?
Who goes on student exchange?
In short, all kinds of students who fit the following criteria are eligible for exchange:
Are you adventurous, curious, and willing to try new experiences?
Can you accept responsibility for your actions?
Are you tolerant and adaptable to changes?
Are your expectations and motivation realistic?
| Destination |
Age |
| Groups |
14-19 y.o. |
| European Destinations |
15-19 y.o. |
| Non European Destinations |
15-18 y.o. |
MARKS: minimum 'C' grade average
What is the application process?
In a nutshell:
- Lodge a preliminary application (either online or by mail)
- S.C.C.E. will then send you a full Application Kit, which requires you to provide photographs, a personal essay, medical report, school evaluation and a contract
- Attend an information session (you may like to complete this step earlier)
- Personal interview with S.C.C.E.
- Successful students notified of their selection
- Application is then sent overseas to find a suitable host family
- Host family appointed and confirmed
- Pre-departure orientation meeting and COUNTDOWN mailings
- Take off!
How do I apply?
The first step is to submit a preliminary application, which can be done online here.
The preliminary application gives S.C.C.E. your basic details, like your name, age and school, as well as the exchange program you’ve chosen – the country, departure month and program length. A $100 non-refundable administration fee accompanies the preliminary application.
Now is a good time to discuss with your teachers and school the program you have chosen and how this can be best managed with your Australian school commitments. With enough notice, many Australian schools can support Year 9 and Year 10 students to complete a semester or year exchange program with minimum disruption to Australian schooling.
Next step
Once S.C.C.E. has received and processed your preliminary application, we will send you an Application Kit.
The kit contains a more comprehensive application form including photographs, and requires a personal essay to help your future host family to learn a little more about you and why you would like to live in their country and understand their culture.
There are also two components to be completed by other parties:
- A teacher at your school will complete a form confirming your recent grades, and return it to S.C.C.E. (a 'C' grade minimum is required)
- A medical report is completed by your doctor, and, depending on your destination and your immunisation history, you may also require some vaccinations prior to departure.
In addition, the kit requires a contract to be signed between you and your family and S.C.C.E.
Then …
Attend an information session – held in many cities throughout Australia. Dates and locations are listed here.
Information sessions are your opportunity to learn all about S.C.C.E. programs and have all your questions answered - and you may wish to attend an information session earlier in the process to ensure you are choosing the exchange program that's right for you.
In the meantime, you may find some of your questions answered on the FAQ page.
Let’s meet!
Once S.C.C.E. has sent you an Application Kit, we will contact you to arrange a time for you to attend an interview.
The interview helps S.C.C.E. to get you know you, assess your maturity, adaptability and understand the reasons you want to go on exchange and why you think you would be a successful exchange student.
S.C.C.E. will use this information to match you with a host family of similar interests and values, so be sure to be yourself and honest in your interview.
You’re in!
As soon as you have been selected by S.C.C.E. for a program, we tell you straight away so you can begin preparing for your time abroad.
Your Application Kit is then sent overseas and host families are sought for you.
S.C.C.E. also arranges your return flights, as well as any domestic travel arrangements you may require, depending on where in the host country your overseas family live.
Your destination and the length of your program may also require that you obtain a visa. While S.C.C.E. provides you with step-by-step notes to help you to successfully complete your application for a visa, we are unable to submit this on your behalf for legal reasons. Some destinations are also introducing compulsory interviews for exchange students' visa applications, which may involve travel to a consulate, either in your state or interstate.
Please notify S.C.C.E. if you hold dual citizenship and have a second passport in addition to your Australian passport.
Orientation and preparation
S.C.C.E. appreciates that students must be adequately prepared in order to make the most of their exchange experience.
Understandably, you will have many questions prior to take-off and we want to answer them all. Attending an information session is particularly useful – but before you do, also take a look through our FAQs.
Before you depart, S.C.C.E. ensures its students have developed:
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an eagerness to explore cultural differences
-
realistic expectations for your time abroad
-
skills necessary to cope with culture shock
-
understanding of the need for communication and negotiation
Do you have a question not answered above? Try our FAQs, attend an information session or contact S.C.C.E. on 1800 500 501 to speak with a member of the team. | 
